Bishops' Schedules: Schedule of Bishop Robert C. Morlino Friday, February 6, 2004 10:45 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Pastoral Visit to Sinsinawa Dominicans, Sinsinawa Saturday, February 7, 2004 5:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, Blessed Sacrament Parish, Madison Sunday, February 8, 2004 10:00 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison Wednesday, February 11, 2004 12:00 p.m. -- Attend Presbyteral Council Meeting, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison 7:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, St. Luke Parish, Plain Thursday, February 12, 2004 5:30 p.m. -- Attend Dinner, Knights of Columbus Council #4527, Madison Schedule of Bishop George O. Wirz Sunday, February 8, 2004 10:00 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, St. Rose of Lima Parish, Cuba City Wednesday, February 11, 2004 12:00 p.m. -- Attend Presbyteral Council Meeting, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison Thursday, February 12, 2004 10:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. -- Attend Clergy Inservice on Youth Ministry, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison

Gambling: Assess what kind of community we are and want to be

		Under the Gospel Book + Bishop Robert C. Morlino

Dear Friends,

It would be hard to avoid some comment on the upcoming referendum regarding the presence or not of legalized casino gambling in the Madison vicinity.

The debate which goes on in the news media is warranted and necessary because the presence or not of a casino will certainly generate a significant constellation of outcomes. It should be clear that as Catholics, we stand in solidarity with our Native American sisters and brothers and want what is for their best. To express difficulty with the notion of a casino presence in the Madison vicinity should in no way be taken as the expression of a sentiment which is somehow anti-Native American.

"The challenge, as I see it . . . is to ask ourselves with regard to our diocese and to our whole state, what kind of community are we, and what kind of community do we want to be."

For us as Catholics, gambling is not considered intrinsically evil, that is contradictory to the human reason which the Creator inscribed into each human person. We are aware that abortion, for example, is considered intrinsically evil, that is, a violation of the logic of the human person, because it changes the womb of the woman which is a place of life into the place of death, as tragic as that is. Casino gambling offers no direct attack on the logic of the human person as created in the image and likeness of God, but it can have many negative consequences.

Called to social responsibility

The challenge, as I see it, during these days for all of us as Catholics in the Diocese of Madison, not only those in the geographical vicinity of the proposed casino, is to ask ourselves with regard to our diocese and to our whole state, what kind of community are we, and what kind of community do we want to be. While many are called to vote a correctly formed conscience with regard to the issue of casino gambling in the Madison vicinity, all of us are called each day to the kind of social responsibility which seeks to respond to the two questions posed above.

It is clear, for example, that legalized gambling has had a different sort of impact on Las Vegas, where patrons travel many miles to enjoy the casinos and a whole variety of other entertainment and remain for several days, as opposed to Atlantic City on the east coast, where most of the patrons are bused in for several hours or for a full day and where there is little diversion during their stay in Atlantic City from the gambling activity itself. The kind of community that Las Vegas is makes it a more apt place for legalized casino gambling than Atlantic City from a certain point of view. These are the kinds of issues that have to be carefully weighed so that those who have the responsibility to vote on the referendum will indeed form their consciences correctly.

What kind of community we are

But back to the wider questions which the proposed casino in the Madison vicinity raises about the kind of community we are in our state and the kind of community that we want to be. These questions are raised by the proposed casino but not limited to that sphere. We are a community comfortable and even proud of a widespread "pro-choice" sentiment. We are a community where some civil authorities welcome the kind of anti-Catholic and anti-Christian bigotry which is represented again and again in a theater production such as Corpus Christi, which portrays Jesus in such ways as to show scorn for the historical, biblical witness which is our heritage.

Now any determination that we would make about the presence of a proposed casino must take account of what kind of community we are. Is there available in our community some public morality, some publicly accepted sense of right and wrong which can guide our judgment in any particular area? If the fact that someone freely chooses to do something, that is perform or have an abortion, makes it right - that's what "freedom of choice" is all about - then the fact that a significant number of people freely choose to gamble would seem to make the proposed casino acceptable. Why would one choose not to be pro-choice with regard to the availability of casino gambling in Madison? What is the broader framework of public morality out of which we might approach this particular decision?

What kind of community we want to be

The issue of casino gambling suggests an answer to the second question as to what kind of community we want to be. It would seem we need to be a community that embraces some public morality, some "moral minimum" out of which we fashion all of our moral choices.

Thus my own thoughts with regard to this serious issue of the referendum on casino gambling lead me into a far broader context wherein our moral choices about what kind of community we should be can make sense. In many cases today people's so called moral choices are not anchored in any set of principles or in any public morality consistently applied. If indeed each person is the source of moral truth for himself or herself, and if indeed there is no public morality, then it is very hard to make sense of a decision one might make for or against proposed casino gambling in the Madison vicinity.

The various considerations that we need to take account of have been spelled out repeatedly in the mass media with regard to the casino. But the justification for one's vote for or against the proposed casino will in the end be as good as the public morality, the publicly accepted sense of right or wrong in which it is rooted.

The kind of community that we are seems to indicate a high comfort level with virtually no public morality. Is that really the kind of community we want to be in the Diocese of Madison and in the state of Wisconsin looking to the future? Much more than the goods or ills of the proposed casino are at stake when we respond to that question.

Thank you for reading this. God bless each one of you. Praised be Jesus Christ!

Official Appointments:

Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison, wishes to announce the following:

Reverend Eugene F. Hollfelder as Chaplain, Knights of Columbus Father Inama Council 3924, effective January 12, 2004.

Reverend Eric H. Nielsen as Chaplain, Diocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting, effective February 1, 2004.

Msgr. Paul J. Swain
Vicar General